A personal exploration of autism from a brother’s perspective, including family relationships, philosophy, neuroscience, mental health history and ethics

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Dad Playing the Violin for Mike

My brother Mike is autistic, low functioning and nonverbal. He was diagnosed shortly after autism was classified in 1952 DSM. Mike was at home until I was 10 years old. My parents then made the decision to send him to Willowbrook where they thought they would take care of him. We visited just about every week.

I originally began blogging in 2013 as a way to tell the story of my family. I gradually focused my attention more on visual self expression. Mike was a very big influence on this part of my life as well.

But Dad never gave up on him.

Once, I thought it was a good idea to bring the violin to Mike’s group home. The underlying idea in my mind was that Mike would recognize Dad’s playing and we would have a great family reunion. (I like to dream.)

Mike gave no recognition, other than one of his stereotypical gestures.